Direct from the Alice Waters–revolutionized kitchen of the American Academy in Rome comes this uniquely conceived and designed single-subject cookbook, Zuppe. A snapshot of food and life at the expat haven situated atop Rome’s Gianicolo, the small book is a well-curated collection of recipes built on the delicate green things of spring—English peas, fresh fava—and is Chez Panisse alumna Mona Talbott’s elegant ode to the simplicity and elegant comfort of making soups for all seasons.

English food writer Nigel Slater’s Ripe is organized by fruits; from apples to white currants. Each chapter begins with a short treatise on the subject and then puts the produce to work, in a velvety apricot almond cake with apricot puree, for example, and a delightfully old-school English gooseberry elderflower trifle. Ripe is to the orchard what Tender was to the vegetable patch—you’ll never look at your apple tree with the same eye again.

The Farm by Ian Knauer (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books), out April 17

In this new title, star food writer and former Gourmet test cook Ian Knauer teams up with Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton, Saveur alumnae who are now behind culinary juggernaut Canal Cooking House. The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food weaves Knauer’s lyrical writing style—each recipe prefaced by a tale of its origin and his travels to unearth it—with exquisite photographs of farm ingredients into a book Ruth Reichl has touted as “pure heaven.”

On the heels of the success of her 2010 What to Cook & How to Cook It (Phaidon), Jane Hornby brings us yet another coffee-table worthy tome full of recipes devoted to “warm-weather cooking and entertaining.” With pictorial step-by-step instructions that are reminiscent of Cooks Illustrated yet still thoroughly modern, Fresh & Easy’s conversational tone gently entices and encourages budding chefs to prepare everything from the homey: a chicly made-over Cobb salad with honey mustard dressing, to the festive: expertly seared tuna with sauce vierge.

The kitchen of April Bloomfield is not for the faint of heart, and nor is her new book, A Girl and Her Pig, a vibrant culinary tour through the career of the woman behind the Spotted Pig and the Breslin Bar & Dining Room (who, we learn, came to the kitchen after missing the application deadline to be a policewoman in Birmingham, England). Like Jamie Oliver, Bloomfield trained under Rose Gray at the River Café in London, and here presents her rustic and rich style of cooking. From soul-soothing breakfasts (bacon, baked eggs, and porridge), to “fine swine” and “potato and friends,” A Girl and Her Pig is an homage to the best of the barnyard and garden.

Nature: Simple, Healthy, and Good, by Alain Ducasse (Rizzoli), out February 21

Though Alain Ducasse’s iconic restaurants span the globe, in Nature: Simple, Healthy, and Good, the acclaimed chef stays close to home, foraying into his personal garden. Skillfully illustrated by Christine Roussey, the book follows the bespectacled Ducasse, his nutritionist cowriter Paule Neyrat, and Plaza Athénée head chef Christophe Saintagne as they take a conversational tour through an elaborate vegetable patch. And though bucolic, Nature never lets go of Ducasse’s signature finesse, bringing you inspired takes on produce, such as vegetables à la barigoule with vanilla.

Taking their cues from the bounty of spring, six new cookbooks, from established culinary greats and rising stars alike, provide inspiration for a full year’s worth of cooking, each with locally grown ingredients and regional touches. Paired with fetching new home and garden accoutrements, the tomes are the best way to start the season in good taste.